I treasure Char Kway Teow a little more these days, simply because it is getting harder and harder to find a good plate around Singapore.
It is also a dish that asks quite a lot from the hawker.
Day Night Fried Kway Teow 日夜炒粿条 at Bukit Merah Central is one of the old-school names still doing it the traditional way.
Second-generation hawker Xu Chuncheng 许春成 learnt to fry Char Kway Teow from his father, and has been at the wok for decades.
He would sometimes fry almost continuously from morning till afternoon, only having his lunch after the crowd cleared.
The Char Kway Teow goes for $4, $5 or $6, with each plate fried individually over high heat and the noodles, sauce, egg and ingredients tossed together (really a lot more tiring than it looks).
Instead of the deeper wok commonly used at zi char stalls, the hawker uses a specially made shallow iron wok, which helps him spread and toss the noodles more evenly.
The version here leans towards the wetter style, with the noodles thoroughly coated in a dark, sweet-savoury sauce.
It had that slightly sticky, moist texture I associate with more old-school Char Kway Teow, rather than being dry or aggressively smoky.
The kway teow itself was also thinner than usual, mixed with yellow noodles, egg, bean sprouts, fishcake, lap cheong, cockles and pork lard.
I actually liked this thinner kway teow. It absorbed the sauce well without clumping together too much, while the egg was fried through the noodles rather than sitting in large separate pieces.
There was some wok fragrance, though I would not call this an especially smoky plate.
Those little pieces of crispy lard were important. Once in a while you get one together with the softer noodles and sweet sausage.
Day Night Fried Kway Teow may not be the smokiest or most wok hei-heavy version around, but I enjoyed its moist texture, thinner noodles and familiar sweet-savoury flavour.
Day Night Fried Kway Teow 日夜炒粿条
Bukit Merah Central Food Centre #02-41, 163 Bukit Merah Central, Singapore 150163
Opening Hours: 9:30am – 5:30pm (Mon – Wed, Fri – Sun), Closed Thurs
Other Related Entries
Fried Kway Teow 炒粿條 (Amoy Street Food Centre)
Hainan Zi 海南仔 (Chong Pang Food Centre)
Cai Mao Fried Kway Teow (Bt Merah View Food Centre)
Hill Street Fried Kway Teow (Chinatown Food Centre)
Food Street Fried Kway Teow Mee (Chinatown Food Centre)
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